The Adventures of Kathleen the Great and Mark the Meek 英勇凱薩琳與害羞馬克歷險記

By Mike Kearney / STAFF WRITER

Meet Kathleen the mouse and Mark the elephant. Kathleen is very brave and likes adventure, but Mark is very shy and scared of many things. But friends stay together, so Mark follows Kathleen wherever she goes. Sometimes they get into some very sticky situations.

Mark and Kathleen were wandering through town when they saw a circus tent.

"Uncle Earl, my long lost uncle, works for a traveling circus," Mark said. "Let's see if he's there."

They went into the tent but didn't see Uncle Earl anywhere.

All of a sudden a young kid threw peanuts at Mark.

"What was that?" Mark said.

"He wants you to do a trick," Kathleen said. "He thinks you're part of the show."

Mark didn't know any tricks but he was hungry. He started doing jumping jacks and a crowd of people gathered.

"Look at all the food you're getting," Kathleen said. "Do a somersault."

He did and the crowd cheered. They threw peanuts, popcorn and chocolates at him. Mark began sucking up the food through his trunk.

"Delicious," Mark said. "Uh-oh."

Mark's voice sounded like his nose was stuffed up. He had just sucked up a pack of chewing gum!

"Something's stuck," Kathleen said. "Try blowing out your trunk."

Mark did and a big bubble formed. Then there was a large pop!

"The elephant has a gun!" a lady yelled.

Everyone was really scared. An elephant wearing a top hat came in. It was Uncle Earl!

"What's going on?" Earl said…

馬克和凱薩琳正在小鎮四處遊蕩時，看見一個馬戲團帳棚。

「我失散已久的厄爾叔叔在一個四海為家的馬戲團工作，」馬克說︰「我們去看看他在不在裡面。」

他們走進帳棚，卻沒有看到厄爾叔叔。

突然，一名小朋友朝馬克丟擲花生。

馬克說︰「那是什麼？」

「他希望你玩這個把戲，」凱薩琳說︰「他認為你是表演的一部份。」

馬克對馬戲一無所知，但是他很餓。他開始揮手蹦蹦跳跳，群眾圍了過來。

Finish it 故事接龍

Write your own ending to the story! 寫下你的故事結局:

Idea 1: Uncle Earl looks over and sees his nephew Mark. Does Earl try to calm down the crowd? Is he happy to see Mark? Does he ask Mark to join the circus?

想法一: 厄爾叔叔轉頭去看姪子馬克。厄爾叔叔會試著安撫群眾嗎？他看到馬克開心嗎？他會要馬克加入馬戲團嗎？

Idea 2: Uncle Earl doesn't recognize his nephew. He's mad that an elephant has been pretending to be part of the circus. Does he kick Mark out? Does he call the police? What does Kathleen do?

想法二: 厄爾叔叔認不得自己的姪子。他很氣有隻大象假裝自己是馬戲團成員。他會趕馬克出去嗎？還是會報警？凱薩琳又會怎麼做呢？

Idea 3: Uncle Earl sees that the elephant is his nephew. He tries to calm down the crowd, but they run out of the tent. Is Earl trampled by the people? Do Mark and Kathleen help him? Do the people decide to come back?